The Soft Underbelly of Scandinavian "High-Tax Happy-Capitalism"A media mini-industry touts Scandinavia's "happiness" as the result of its high-tax, generous welfare state-capitalism. This mini-industry conveniently fails to report the soft underbelly of Scandinavia's "High-Tax Happy-Capitalism": The high-tax, generous welfare model is just as dependent on unsustainable credit bubbles as every other version of state-capitalism.

US looks at extending laptop ban to all flightsThe Trump administration is considering extending a ban on laptops in aircraft cabins to all flights to the US from anywhere in the world, in a move that would create major disruption for passengers and airlines.

Trump Escalates Syrian Proxy WarAt the start of the Trump presidency, it looked like the U.S. covert "regime change" war in Syria might be ending, but it has returned, zombie-like, in a slightly different form.

"The government statement has not disclosed the cost, but at this stage, to produce natural gas from combustible ice is likely to make no economic sense," the researcher said.Swiss to vote on nuclear power phaseout

## Systemic breakdown/collapse/unsustainability ##Why We're Fragmenting: The Status Quo Is DisintegratingI confess to being amused by the mainstream media's implicit view that everything would be peachy if only Trump wasn't president. Memo to MSM: the nation is fragmenting for reasons that have nothing to do with who's president, or indeed, which party is the majority in Congress, who sits on the Supreme Court, or any other facet of governance.

The airline industry is eager to use biojet fuels, which can cut carbon dioxide emissions, but the high cost is an obstacle. Companies have yet to come up with an economical way to mass-produce the fuel.Japan's GDP growth masks stubborn deflation woes

But Bloomberg has it backwards: The problem is not too few babies, but too many humans. Making more babies is at best a short-term, partial solution, while it exacerbates the problem over the long term. -- RF

When the Trump Coup-makers ComethSo what did you think a U.S.-styled "soft coup" would look like? What we're seeing regarding the intended removal of President Trump is not that much different from what has happened in dozens of other countries, whether Iran in 1953 or Ukraine in 2014 or Brazil in 2016. This one just has a few extra American touches.